CAT fund savings bill draws unanimous Senate support
The Senate has voted unanimously, 33-0, in favor of SB 1201, which transfers $29 million in savings from the Catastrophic Health Care fund back to the state’s general fund. Sen. Dan Schmidt, D-Moscow, told senators that the fund’s costs had been climbing significantly, year after year, to the point that six years ago, it ran out of money mid-year and needed a supplemental appropriation from lawmakers to cover all its costs that year, which go to cover catastrophic medical bills of Idahoans who are unable to pay.
Counties pay the first $11,000 of each bill, and then the state fund picks up the rest; patients also have liens placed on virtually everything they own, including their estates after they die, to repay some of the costs
“Three years ago, something else happened in this state,” Schmidt told the Senate. “We had a significant policy choice we had to make, in this case led by our gentleman on the 2nd floor (the governor), who made a brave and courageous and, in my opinion, wise choice to have health insurance more available to Idaho citizens.” That came with the establishment of the Your Health Idaho insurance exchange, through which close to 100,000 Idahoans have now enrolled in health insurance plans, with most receiving subsidies to help offset the cost.
“What happened to the Catastrophic Health Care fund? Costs started going down,” said Schmidt, a physician. “That’s why this money’s coming back. CAT fund costs have gone down significantly. I think that’s great. I think that’s wonderful.”
He noted that the CAT program also has instituted medical reviews, discounted provider payments to 95 percent of the Medicaid reimbursement rate, and required all applicants to be screened for Medicaid eligibility. “So I believe the CAT board has done its best to save the Idaho taxpayer money,” Schmidt said. “Here’s your dividend. The Idaho taxpayer gets, in my opinion, a significant benefit from the hard work this body has done, the body across the rotunda, our leadership, to people in the counties that review these applications and the CAT fund board.”
Sen. Steven Thayn, R-Emmett, said he wanted to “congratulate the CAT fund,” but added, “Our work isn’t done.” He said, “Overall medical costs still are going up. We haven’t solved all the problems yet, so we still have some work to do.”
Schmidt agreed. “He’s right. The work is not done,” he said. But he noted that while state employee health insurance costs, for example, are rising 7 to 9 percent for next year, Idaho’s Medicaid costs are going up only 2 percent. “So we are working on controlling medical costs in this state. … I think we are moving forward.”
The bill still needs House passage and the governor’s signature to become law. It’s a “negative supplemental appropriation,” a bill taking back to the general fund money that lawmakers previously had appropriated to a specific program for the current year.
